Bill Clinton: Is he the Democrats' Newt Gingrich? (+video)

Bill Clinton has been going off-message lately. In a way, he's like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich – a senior statesman who says what he thinks, perhaps without thinking through the implications for his 'team,' and gets in trouble.

Much has been made of former President Bill Clinton’s recent off-message comments about Mitt Romney, taxes, and the economy. In fact, an entire literature has sprung up around why Mr. Clinton appears, at times, to be acting as a double agent for Mr. Romney.

Another is that he is trying to help Mr. Obama by nudging his campaign away from its criticism of Romney’s business record at Bain Capital, on the idea that that line of attack is counterproductive.

A third is that Mr. Clinton is trying to help himself, as a philanthropist with close ties to Wall Street and other wealthy donors, many of whom are put off by Obama’s populist rhetoric.

But here’s another theory: Clinton is, in some ways, the Democrats’ Newt Gingrich. Both the former president and former House speaker are passionate, smart, ideas-driven politicians with an undisciplined streak and a history of marital infidelity. Last year, Mr. Gingrich came out of retirement as an active politician to run for president, and, like Clinton, said some things that hurt his own team. Exhibit A: calling rising GOP star Paul Ryan’s budget plan “right-wing social engineering.”